New member, old guitar

cwilliamrose

melvin-man said: Take the pg off and take it with you and see if they can match it

That's my plan. I drive by there every time I go to my work address...........Bill

yoreel

It looks great as it is, take my advice & leave it alone, I made a horrendous mistake stripping my 65 in my teenage years. As for the electronics, sometimes stuff has to be done to make it playable. Do what you have to, without compromising the value too much & enjoy.

Tyler

leave it alon man its original i would kill for that stang

Wiseman88

cwilliamrose said: Thanks for all the input. I tend to agree with those that would not do the refinish. And even if I did do it, it doesn't have to be done now. I will get the fret work, new nut and intonation done and just play it. This decision was made before I found out two days ago that my job went away but I really don't need to spend the effort and funds on anything more than making it 100% playable. I'll even put the PG on the back burner -- the only issue is the shrinkage and that was pulling the screws inward. I feared either a problem with the holes in the body or a cracked PG. When I put it back on I just lived with the screws not being fully seated. I can live with that forever, maybe more so than a PG that screams REPLACEMENT!! because it looks too new. I may get a blank or two and try to age it, but only if I find a good match for the original.
I almost forgot this;
I feel like any mechanical or electrical machine that's 40+ years old will have to have been maintained to remain functional. New solder joints happen as a result of normal maintenance. Old capacitors die just sitting there, pots corrode, pups fail. It would be nice to think your guitar looks like it came out of a time machine but very few are that perfect. And if you had one like that you might be inclined to leave in it's case instead of playing it. If a purist says my guitar has lost value because it was maintained, so be it.
My amp is a good example -- it was in need of tubes, some components like caps and resistors and the output transformer was toast. The amp was not more valuable with those old components because it didn't work. It may not be more valuable now that it's fixed but I don't believe it's value was diminished by the repairs. It's value was diminished because those repairs were necessary and there's nothing to be done about that.
Later............Bill

I agree, routine repairs to maintain a well loved instruments playability is often the best decision to make. I recently just purchased a mustang (4 months ago) and have the intention to leave it the way i bought it as long as I can. But like you when it comes time to update whatever needs updating on it, I'll gladly sacrifice the value if it means preserving the guitar (not to mention the memories of the guitar).

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